Welcome to the Xmas Return Line

The last two consumer electronics products I bought failed miserably. Is it just my bad luck or has quality gone to hell?

This post-holiday season I am among the hordes standing in the return lines, wondering whatever happened to the idea of quality.

It's funny really. I unexpectedly saw my son on Christmas Eve. We both like to talk tech, and I told him I finally gave to Goodwill my old CRT TV. We decided to walk over to a nearby Best Buy.

Yes, it's true. I am probably the last man in America not to have a flat-screen TV. I decided it was time to join the living. So after looking around at the 4K eye candy, I picked out a 40-inch, 1080p, 120 Hz, 3-D-capable smart TV for only $549.

With my son as my personal Geek Squad we went home to set it up and buy my first high def movie online. After some fiddling with screws and cables we hit the on button on the remote. Nothing. We hit the on button on the TV. Zip. We checked the power cord, the batteries in the remote, our astrological signs and the weather and tried again. Nada.

I don't write about quality control. It's not a mainstream part of our EE Times coverage. So I claim no special knowledge. But I would have thought Samsung might have at the end of its assembly line someone who switches the $549 smart TV set on to make sure it actually works before putting it in the box. Apparently the experts in this field take a different approach.

Of course Samsung's 24-hour support hotline was already closed for the holiday. I called them Dec. 26, and a very nice young man was able to secure me an appointment with a specialist who would come by sometime on January 1 between 1 and 5 pm.

I was more bemused then angry. However, I have to admit I got a little peeved at myself when the Samsung support person asked if I called Best Buy. No, I told him, I did not because I declined to buy their extra $70-a-year support package so I figured I was at the mercy of the South Korean electronics giant, rather than the neighborhood outlet of the U.S. retail behemoth.

But he got me thinking, so I called Best Buy. Indeed, they agreed to give me another if I would box up and bring in the original. Sorry, no courtesy pick up service for TVs that were dead on arrival.

I guess this is the quality-control approach of choice these days. Rather than hire someone to switch the TV on before it ships, just make a few extra and write off the ones that get returned. If someone has a bad experience, too bad.

Mechanical klutz that I am, I was not able to get all six screws out of the plastic base of the TV. So returning the it had to wait until I could get someone to shepherd the un-boxed display in the back seat so I did not crack the glass while driving it to the return heap. Now I was ready to put my foot through it!

Then I remembered, just a week earlier I was in Best Buy and thought I would pick up a little CD player for the kitchen so I could listen to the radio or music while cooking. Cheapskate that I am, I bought the $29 Insignia house brand unit.

It lasted two days before it would not shut off. I thought maybe I could limp along somehow using the aux mode as a virtual off switch, but then the display went blank, making it ridiculously hard to tune in a radio station.

OK, I probably asked for a shoddy product when I did not shell out $49 for the Sony model. But a $29 Insignia boom box that will not shut off and a $549 Samsung TV that will not turn on is either an indication of a severe unlucky streak on my part or a deterioration of an ethic of quality in manufacturing.

I'm guessing it's the latter. What do you think? Hey, is that you ahead of me in the return line? What happened to you?

Martin: I'd love t see a feature or series sometime on "The New Test" describing the more complex and high volume products, the more automated and statistical test approaches used today and the results for the consumer.

Samsung quality issues? Been there done that.. In the past 2 years. 1x 50"TV lasts just over a year. 2x phones with severe battery issues and crappy Samsung printers galore at work. Not just a quality control issue but either a poor product design and/or accountants forcing cheap components in. Of course Samsung is by no means the only manufacturer to push out poor quality shinny products but they are on top of the world now and consumers will easily switch if their marketing falters..

The speaker cost $129. It works OK, better if plugged in and it also can charge my phone at the same time. I happen to have an AC outlet with two built-in USB charging ports right where I keep the speaker so I use it plugged in most of the time.

The real hassle came at the store. Best Buy was giving away $15 gift cards with purchases last weekend. I said to the cashier, "can I just return the speaker and uyt it again using the gift card?" The cashier replied "Yes, you can do that" so I did.

Well, they tried gave me a refund less $15 saying that the gift card was not refundable. I would have been OK with that had the cashier told me that at the register. I returned the speaker, arguing with the manager that the store had a communication problem. When they again deducted $15, I returned it again, this time arguing with a different manager. Finally, they reduced the price by $30 and still gave me a $15 gift card.

I have another week on the 15-day return period and I'm not convinced that I should have spent the money so I may yet return the speaker.

You're right, testing every unit is expensive. Which is why test setups are automated as much as possible [ATE = Automated Test Equipment]. The next step is to test one in N products, then use statistics to say you are matching your quality standards.

Rick, as the "test guy" for EE Times, I can tell you that when it comes to consumer products, the cost of testing every one, even to make sure it simple turns on, is cost prohibitive. Manufacturers rely on process and figure that if the process is good, the products will be good. The cost of losing a customer is small compared to the cost of testing every product that comes off the assembly line.